KOLKATA: SpiceJet, India’s favourite airline and the largest air cargo operator, operated it’s first-ever long-haul wide-body charter flight from London today.
The airline brought back 240 passengers from London to Goa. The flight departed from London Heathrow airport at 8:00 am (local time) on August 20 and is scheduled to reach Goa at 11:50 pm (local time).
On its return leg, the airline will repatriate 89 passengers from Goa to London. The return flight from Goa will depart at 2:30 pm (local time) on August 21, 2020 and is scheduled to arrive in London at 7:45 pm (local time).
This is the airline’s fourth long-haul charter flight after Amsterdam, Toronto and Rome.
SpiceJet will operate its second long-haul repatriation flight to Canada on August 21 and will repatriate 357 Canadian nationals and permanent residency holders from New Delhi to Toronto. SpiceJet will operate another repatriation flight on the Delhi-Toronto route on August 24.
Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet said, “London marks our fourth long-haul repatriation destination after Amsterdam, Toronto and Rome displaying our capability to quickly adapt to changing situations.
These flights have helped Indian and foreign nationals stranded for months to get back home. SpiceJet will be operating many more long-haul repatriation flights in the next few days.”
SpiceJet has played a key role in repatriating Indians and foreign nationals during these difficult times. The airline has operated over 585 charter and Vande Bharat flights to help repatriate close to 95,000 stranded Indian citizens and foreign nationals to and from countries such as Italy, Canada, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Netherlands, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka.
Amidst the greatest crisis ever to hit global aviation, SpiceJet has emerged as India’s No. 1 cargo company. The airline has operated over 5665 cargo flights and transported over 31263 tons of cargo ?this is more than double of all domestic airlines combined together carrying medicines and medical equipment and fruits and vegetables to all corners of India and the world since March 25 last, an official said.
The airlines’ international cargo network now spans over 41 international destinations that include Rome, Almaty, Abu Dhabi, Baghdad, Bahrain, Bangkok, Bishkek, Cambodia, Cairo, Cebu, Chad, Colombo, Dhaka, Doha, Dubai, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Hong Kong, Huangzhou, Incheon, Jakarta, Kabul, Kathmandu, Khartoum, Kyrgyzstan, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Male, Myanmar, Shanghai, Singapore, Sharjah, Sulaymaniyah, Tashkent, Ukraine, among others.
The airline has also been actively using Ras Al-Khaimah airport as a hub for its cargo operations.
(AGENCIES)